Composition of matter yielding films



Patented July 3, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMPOSITION OF MATTER YIELDING FILMS No Drawing. Application September 10, 1928 Serial No. 305,130

7 Claims. (01. 134-79) This invention relates to a composition of matter and it particularly relates to a composition of matter yielding a film, the constituting elements of which bestow on the film such a peculiar and irregular elasticity that the film, when applied upon another surface', particularly one provided already with another varnish or lacquer of different, but uniform elasticity, tears into a great mutitude of fine cracks. These cracks cause the particular layer to split up into many little spots of lacquer or varnish, which with the preferably different color of the other layers appearing through the crack, give a great contrast resulting in an artistic efiect.

This new type of film coatings has found some utilization in the arts and iscommonly known. as crackle finish. It is extremely difficult to make up a formula of such crackle finish that it will tear up into fine spots as described and still will be of good coloring quality to sufiiciently protect the surface below; composition furnishing crackle finishes are, therefore, marketed only by a small number of manufacturers. Even in view of the utilization these crackle finishes have found it cannot be denied that the development of these finishes is hampered by various shortcomings, insofar that the colored pigment embodied in the composition settles out badly, either that it settles out. too early and thus disfigures the coated surface, or it delays the drying and creates conditions resulting in other blemishes of the coated surface. Furthermore, several ingredients were embodied in the composition which cause higher expenses than the economical manufacture of the composition warrants. It was also extremely difficult to brush articles with or to dip them into these various compositions, but on the other side it was just as difficult to spray the articles with a proper solution of the composition in order to obtain a uniform size and shape of the spots or crackles. Also the manufacture of delicate colors offered difficulties and contributed to these above shortcomings and it was difficult with any method of application of these compounds to obtain a half way uniform size and shape of the spots or crackles of the film with the compositions of the prior art.

Another disadvantage of the old style crackle finishes was the shortcoming that an unduly great quantity of the composition was needed to cover one unit of surface and the use of the old style crackle finishes was, therefore, rather uneconomical, where artistically decorated articles at low prices had to be turned out in great numbers. In order to overcome all those disadvantages I have made a great line of experiments and I have succeeded to overcome the disadvantages of the old style crackle finishes as described above; I am now able to turn out at a lower price a highly improved composition which owing to the combination of the materials contained therein produces films of superior finish and avoids the disadvantages described above; in addition thereto my new composition of matter furnishes a finish oi considerably greater durability than any similar finish formerly obtainable in the market.

In the operation of the process for the production of my new composition, which I will describe here byway of example I proceed about as follows: I dissolve a certain quantity of metallic compound, selected from a group consisting of an extremely finely divided metallic soaps, such as aluminum stearate, aluminum palmitate, zinc resinate, lead linoleate, manganese linoleate, in so much of an appropriate solvent that only part of the applied metallic soap is dissolved and its balance is kept in solution. The aforesaid group of metallic soaps may be substituted entirely or in part by' metallic compounds such as aluminum hydrate, lead oxide, zinc oxide, zinc hydroxide etc. Such appropriate solvent may be for instance, hydrocarbons, such as benzol, ,benzin, toluol, xylol, solvent naphtha, naphthalene, phenol, gasoline, the halogens derivative of such hydrocarbon, sulfur derivatives and hydrogenated derivatives of same.

The solution containing the undissolved metallic soap or its equivalent in suspension I may use alone in this state as described, or I may incorporate into the same a pigment of any shade as may be necessary to give the solution the de-- sired shade; or to obtain the same shade in some different way I may incorporate an organic dyestufi to the solution. Moreover, I can incorporate into the solution various gums, natural or artificial resins as will dissolve in the applied solvent; or I may add various kinds of cellulose esters to the solution of the metallic soap, containing part of it in suspension, or to the mixture of such solution with a pigment, dye or resins; such cellulose esters which I may add, are: formyl-cellulose ester, nitro-cellulose esters, acetyl-cellulose ester, and similar cellulose esters.

In order to facilitate the dissolving action of the solvents on the various solids incorporated in the mixture, I may add furthermore solvents which exert especially a great dissolving power on the various cellulose compounds; such particular powerful solvents are for instance the esters of ethyl alcohol, amyl alcohol, butyl alcohol etc. and the aliphatic alcohols themselves, for instance methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, butyl alcohol and amyl alcohol. Wherever any of the aforesaid solvents has a particular dissolving power on any of the aforesaid metallic soaps I can use any of them as the exclusive solvent, but usually I prefer a mixture of any of the aforesaid hydrocarbons with either one or several of the aforesaid esters and alcohols. Moreover, I may also add one or the other of the ketones, for instance such as acetone. I furthermore found that the composition is greatly benefited by adding to the compound one or several of the various plasticizers, such as castor-oil, dibutyl phthalate, triphenyl phosphate and the like similar compounds which are apt to extend the life of the finish to a considerable extent. The pigments I may add are the well known pigments such as lead carbonate, zinc oxide, Prussian blue, chr0- mium oxide and the many other similar metal compounds used to color varnishes or lacquer, or I may add the extremely finely disintegrated metallic powders, or bronzes, or I may add any of the well known organic dye stuffs, either alone, or in combination with any of the aforesaid pigments or bronzes.

If I operate in the manner as described above it is obvious that part of the metallic soap is dis solved in the solvent and that the other remaining part of the same is kept in suspension in the applied solvent. It is understood of course that I may modify my operation within certain limits. In one of said modifications for instance, I may add so much more of the solvent as to bring the total amount of the applied metallic soap into solution; the evaporation, taking place later on, on the surface covered with my new composition of matter then will automatically bring about the said partial solution and partial suspension of the metallic soap.

There is also another modification possible in the manufacture of my new composition; that is to keep the metallic soap, or its equivalent, entirely in suspension. This last modification is particularly in place when the metallic soap is entirely replaced by a metal compound, such as aluminum hydrate, aluminum phosphate and other similar metallic compounds. The manner of combining the various ingredients in view of the above given explanations will be apparent from the following examples which I give for i1- lustrating my invention. In order to obtain a clear crackle I compound the ingredients in the following proportions:

1. Aluminum stearate 20 pounds Toluol 3 gallons Butyl alcohol 2 gallons Ethyl acetate 3 gallons Amyl acetate 2 gallons sec nitrocellulose 10 pounds Shellac 20 pounds The crackle finish obtained by the above formula furnishes a film which may be styled a Jack Frost design, it reminds the observer of the many cracks obtained in ice or of the cracks obtained in glass when the same is heated to a high temperature and subsequently immersed into water.

A white crackle coat is obtained by the following formula:

2. Aluminum stearate 20 pounds Zinc oxide 20 pounds Toluol 3gallons Butyl alcohol 2gallons Ethyl acetate 3gallons Amyl acetate 2gallons sec nitrocellulose 10 pounds Shellac 20 pounds A composition in which metallic soap is substituted entirely by its equivalent, for instance a metal compound such as aluminum hydrate, or aluminum phosphate and the like compounds and in which this ingredient is entirely kept in suspension, is represented by the following example:

3. Aluminum hydrate 20 pounds Toluol 3 gallons Butyl alcohol 2 gallons Ethyl acetate 3 gallons Amyl acetate 2 gallons sec nitrocellulose 10 pounds Shellac 20 pounds Another basic formula is represented by the following example:

4. Aluminum stearate 30 pounds Ethyl acetate 3 gallons Petroleum spirits 4 gallons Fusel oil 1 gallon Butyl acetate 1 gallons Ethylene glycol monoethyl ether gallon Dibutyl phthallate 4 gallon 30 sec nitro cotton 9 pounds Fossil kauri resin 20 pounds Each of the formulae produces a different type of crackle design. Except in Example 2, where zinc oxide is applied for producing a white crackle finish in contradistinction to the finish obtained by Example 1, for a clear crackle finish, no reference to coloring matter is otherwise made in the examples as such coloring matter may be added according to the particular shades which may be desired and which coloring per se does not play an essential part of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A composition of matter composed of a cellulose ester, a gum, a plasticizer, and a hydrocarbon solvent, and yielding a film cracking into a multitude of fine spots, the composition comprising aluminum stearate and hydrocarbon, part of the aluminum stearate only being dissolved by and its balance being suspended in said hydrocarbon.

2. A composition of matter composed of a cellulose ester, a gum, a plasticizer, and a solvent, consisting of a hydrocarbon, an alcohol ester and an alcohol, and yielding a film cracking into a multitude of fine spots, the composition comprising aluminum stearate, a mixture of an hydrocarbon, alcohol ester and an alcohol, part only of said aluminum stearate being dissolved by and its balance being suspended in said mixture of the hydrocarbon, alcohol ester and alcohol.

3. A composition of matter composed of a cellulose ester, gum, a plasticizer and a solvent, and yielding a film of irregular elasticity so as to crack into a multitude of fine spots, the composition comprising a metallic soap capable of being at least partly dissolved by aforesaid solvent.

4. A composition of matter composed of a cellulose ester, gum, a plasticizer and a solvent, and

yielding a film of irregular elasticity so as to crack into a multitude of fine spots, the composition comprising a metallic soap and another solvent, part of the metallic soap only being dissolved by and its balance being suspended in said solvent.

5. A composition of matter composed of a cellulose ester, gum, a plasticizer and a solvent for said cellulose ester, the composition comprising aluminum stearate.

6. A composition of matter composed of a cel- 

